Stars who died during production – After Paul Walker's death in a car crash in November, producers decided to retire his character, Brian O'Conner, in "Fast & Furious 7."

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Stars who died during production – Heath Ledger was filming "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus" in 2008 when he died of accidental drug intoxication. The film was completed using other actors as fantasy versions of Ledger's character.

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Stars who died during production – Chris Farley, at center with filmmakers Tyron Montgomery, left, and Thomas Stellmach after they won the Oscar for best animated short film for "Quest" in 1997. Farley reportedly was working on the animated film "Shrek" when he died of an overdose in 1997. His "SNL" colleague Mike Myers would go on to snag the role.

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Stars who died during production – Phil Hartman rose to fame for his impersonations including President Bill Clinton on "Saturday Night Live," but he was starring on the sitcom "NewsRadio" when he was shot to death by his wife in 1998. Actor Jon Lovitz replaced him.

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Stars who died during production – Jon-Erik Hexum was a 26-year-old rising star in 1984 when he shot himself with a prop gun on the set of his new TV series, "Cover Up." The blank drove a piece of his skull into his brain, and he was taken off of life support a week later. His character was killed off

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Stars who died during production – Brandon Lee was filming the movie "The Crow" in 1993 when he was accidentally shot and killed during a scene. Lee was the son of ...

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Stars who died during production – Actor and martial arts expert Bruce Lee, who was working on dubbing the film "Enter the Dragon" when he died in 1973 of a brain edema, caused by a prescription painkiller.

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Stars who died during production – Vic Morrow, here in "The Streets of San Francisco" in 1973, died along with two child actors in 1982 when a stunt helicopter crashed on top of them during the filming of "Twilight Zone: The Movie." The accident resulted in an involuntary manslaughter case against director John Landis and four others. The group was ultimately acquitted.

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Stars who died during production – Cory Monteith's death in July at the age of 31 from mixed drug toxicity combined with alcohol meant his hit show, "Glee," had to figure out how best to deal with his character. Monteith's character, Finn Hudson, center, also died on the series, though the cause of death was not revealed.

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Stars who died during production – John Ritter died of an aortic dissection at the height of his show "8 Simple Rules" in 2003. David Spade and James Garner were later cast.

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Stars who died during production – River Phoenix was almost finished filming "Dark Blood" when he died of drug-induced heart failure in 1993. It would take 19 years for the film to be completed.

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Stars who died during production – "The Royal Family" was in rehearsals when Redd Foxx died of a heart attack in 1991. The TV comedy had been intended as a comeback vehicle for Foxx and did not survive long after his death.

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Stars who died during production – Freddie Prinze, left, was starring on "Chico and the Man" when he fatally shot himself in 1977. Child actor Gabriel Melgar was brought in to play a new character, Raul, after Prinze's death.

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Stars who died during production – When John Spencer died of a heart attack in 2005, his character on "The West Wing," Leo McGarry, suffered the same fate.

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Stars who died during production – Natalie Wood mysteriously drowned in 1981 near Santa Catalina Island, California, during production of the science fiction film "Brainstorm." Her co-star, Christopher Walken, was sailing with the actress and her husband, Robert Wagner, at the time.

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Story highlights

Cutting Walker out of 'Fast 7' would have been costly

According to a report his character will be retired

Universal has not commented on the speculation

It's not an easy thing, to finish a movie without one of your lead actors.

When Heath Ledger died midway through filming "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus," director Terry Gilliam seized on the film's magical-real aesthetic and finished off the movie with Colin Farrell and Johnny Depp fake-Shemping Ledger. When Oliver Reed died before filming key scenes in "Gladiator," Ridley Scott pasted Reed's head onto a body double using digital effects. It's a tricky thing, morbid and money-grubbing but also well-intentioned and even a little sacred. You want to honor the dead actor's final work; but you also want to finish your movie. River Phoenix and Marilyn Monroe died too early to salvage "Dark Blood" or "Something's Got to Give;" a tragedy for many reasons, not least because they both looked much better than "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus."

So: "Fast & Furious 7." Paul Walker died in November with filming only half-finished, although given the age we live in fans had already seen Walker on set and in character. Cutting Walker out of the film entirely would have been a costly endeavor. Less cynically, you could argue that keeping Walker in the film was the right move. It would provide closure. And after all, the "Fast" franchise was something like Walker's life's work. But that opened up all kinds of creative problems for the Fast filmmakers — particularly since everyone attached to the film been proclaiming that "Fast 7" is an attempt at world-building towards a new trilogy. (Translation: They probably already had half-sketched plans for Brian O'Conner in Fast 10.)

According to the Hollywood Reporter, the crew behind "Fast 7" has opted to "retire" Brian O'Conner. He will specifically not be killed off, according to the Reporter's sources. Universal had no comment on the report, but the rumor smells true. Given the high-speed nature of Paul Walker's death, it probably felt like bad taste to kill a character played by Walker in a movie about cars driving very fast. Still, it's difficult to imagine how O'Conner will leave the series. The franchise has a well-stated commitment to Family, and "Furious 6" reaffirmed the central tenet — sentimental, but full-hearted — that the characters will die for each other, even after they've ridden into several different last-big-score sunsets. We'll find out O'Conner's happy fate in April 2015.